Barcelona legend Lionel Messi officially became a free agent last week after his monstrous contract expired with the La Liga giants. The club is unfortunately in major debt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are making it a priority to hand the Argentinian a new deal.

According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona is on the verge of doing so:

There was never really any doubt that Messi would return to the Camp Nou, it's just a matter of them having enough money to keep him happy. Barcelona is working tirelessly to offload some of their first-team players in order to give Messi his desired amount, but he will undoubtedly need to take a bit of a pay cut. After all, the Argentina international was making well over 100 million euros per year.

Barca president Joan Laporta recently spoke on Messi's future amid their financial struggles.

“I would like to say that it's all done, but it's not like that. The discussions are going well, but it's not over yet. The idea is to finish up as soon as possible,” he said, via Marca. “We are confident, because he wants to stay.”

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi is preparing for the Copa America final on Saturday night where Argentina locks horns with Brazil in a true heavyweight clash. After, he will return to Barcelona and hopefully come to an agreement.

PSG has reportedly been one club that offered a lucrative contract to Messi, but it's believed he does want to stay in Spain, especially after they brought in his long-time friend Sergio Aguero from Manchester City.

Barcelona is apparently trying to sell Antoine Griezmann, with Chelsea one of the European giants who are said to be interested. Until the Spanish outfit can sell some players though, they won't be able to officially register their summer signings like Aguero, Memphis Depay, and Eric Garcia. Not an ideal situation at Barcelona, but things will feel a lot better once Messi puts pen to paper.